The Broken Record

01 - Metamorphosis: The Way of Transformation

Church on the Park | Sunday, 29 AUG 2021 | Glen Gerhauser

Text: “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:1-2).

Theme: The voice of God transforms you when heard and heeded.

Intro: Moses’ has something stuck in his head, and he can’t seem to get rid of it. It plays like a broken record, repeating the same phrase over and over. Listen to Exodus 4:10, 6:12 and 6:30: “Then Moses said to the LORD, ‘Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue…Behold, the sons of Israel have not listened to me; how then will Pharaoh listen to me, for I am unskilled in speech...Behold, I am unskilled in speech; how then will Pharaoh listen to me?’” (cf. Exo. 3:11; 4:1). However, God’s voice says something different: “The LORD said to him, ‘Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?’” (Exodus 4:11).

1) You will be transformed when you listen to God’s voice above your voice and the voices of doubt, discouragement and fear (Exo. 4:11).

Moses reminds me of a prickly and poisonous caterpillar before it experiences a metamorphosis.

Some caterpillars are spikey and poisonous to keep predators away. Other caterpillars emit foul odours and even vomit on their prey to protect themselves. It’s their defence system.

Moses also has his defence system. It’s full of words like: ‘never,’ ‘I am slow of speech,’ ‘not,’ ‘I am unskilled’. Behind these words, you hear Moses saying, ‘I can’t,’ ‘It’s impossible,’ ‘I’m incompetent.

Moses is using his defence system to ward off God. But God eventually breaks through. The more Yahweh speaks to him, the more Moses becomes a different person. He becomes God’s man.

Through our defence system, we push God away with words like “I’m not good enough...I don’t have enough...Find someone else.”

But in these end times, God has chosen you to set captives free, just like chose Moses.

The key to being transformed and transforming others is letting God renew your mind with his words (cf. Psalm 29).

God’s words are words of faith and trust.

God’s words are creative and transformative.

God’s words are light in our darkness.

God’s words are like honey in our bitter circumstances.

God’s words get our eyes off of ourselves and on to him.

2) It’s time to break the broken record of unbiblical thinking (Rom. 12:2).

God wants to re-cord your life with the three-strand cord of faith, hope and love.

I learned the value of records as a DJ.

Every week I would save my money and go to the record store to add to my vinyl collection.

And since I paid for these records myself, I handled them with care. I wouldn’t just let anyone use my records. I guarded them.

I especially didn’t want them to get scratched and damaged.

When you put your life in Jesus’ hands, he will care for you. That’s because he purchased you with his very life, his blood (1 Cor. 6:20; 1 Cor. 7:23).

Jesus will keep the record of your life playing till the end; it won’t get stuck on some sad phrase.

“My dog died...my wife left me...my socks got lost in the dryer.” (-:)

Keep eating like the hungry caterpillar.

The more the hungry caterpillar eats, the bigger it gets and the closer it is to becoming a chrysalis or cocoon.

However, in the story, ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ by Eric Carle, the hungry Caterpillar gets in some trouble. He starts to eat junk food.

So what’s the right thing to feed on?

Feed on the Scripture, God’s written word.

Feeding involves reading and hearing, but it’s more than that. You need to digest God’s Word by meditating, studying, praying, repenting and living out the word.

Please see my infographic: How to Digest God’s Word @ https://www.brisbanefire.com/infographics

Scripture records God’s tested and tried voice––his perfect words (2 Peter 1:16-21).

The primary way to learn to hear God’s voice is through Scripture.

3) You will break through bondage when you break the broken record of lies and listen to the perfect record of God’s Word (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

What’s essential is hearing God’s voice in Scripture and heeding his voice.

Abraham was blessed because he obeyed (shema) God’s voice (qol, Gen. 22:18).

On the other hand, Pharaoh clearly resisted God’s voice (Exo. 5:2).

Please see my latest infographic: How to Hear God’s Voice @ https://www.brisbanefire.com/infographics

When you let God change your mindset, you break records.

Things that the world thought were impossible become possible.

“In Oxford, England, 25-year-old medical student Roger Bannister cracks track and field’s most notorious barrier: the four-minute mile. Bannister, who was running for the Amateur Athletic Association against his alma mater, Oxford University, won the mile race with a time of 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds.

“For years, so many athletes had tried and failed to run a mile in less than four minutes that people made it out to be a physical impossibility. The world record for a mile was 4 minutes and 1.3 seconds, set by Gunder Hagg of Sweden in 1945.” (https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-four-minute-mile)

Now the record of the fastest mile is 3:43.13 set by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco.

Conclusion: This week, let’s value God’s voice above every other voice. It’s only the Lord’s voice that has the power to transform us into the image and likeness of Jesus.